Ramen, surely one of the most reassuring comfort foods, satisfies in any weather.

That’s why blistering summer heat doesn’t stop people from swarming to Kenzo Ramen for a bowl of their famously tasty noodle soup.

Most diners happily slurp noodles and gulp the savoury broth.

But at least some ramen enthusiasts want to know whether Kenzo’s generous bowls of house-made noodles should be spooned back with such eagerness. A few have asked The Dish to weigh in on their health factor.

“I’m especially interested in the sodium content,” wrote Meng, a Star reader, in her request to The Dish. “While calories and fat can be reduced by smaller portions, sodium is more problematic and more people are reducing their sodium intake for health reasons.”

At Kenzo’s Yonge St. location, tonkotsu ramen is the most popular meal, according to a friendly server who said people love the taste of the pork-bone broth.

A tangle of golden noodles and two slices of tender roast pork are the main players in this substantial soup. A pretty slice of pink-swirled fish cake, a soft boiled egg and sprouts are among the carefully arrayed garnishes.

Given its size — the soup weighs about 3/4 of a kilogram (about 1 1/2 pounds) — you might expect the ramen to top 1,000 calories.

Ramen fans will be happy to know that this version clocks in with 640 calories — not too far above the 500-calorie limit recommended for the average person’s meal.

Its 14 grams of fat is also respectable for a restaurant dish, says registered dietitian Carol Harrison.

“And the soup’s hunger-curbing protein is quite generous at 50 grams,” she says, noting that 30 grams of protein is a satisfactory amount in one meal.

But here is where the good news ends.

Kenzo’s tonkotsu ramen is awash in sodium. Its 3,388 milligrams is about 1,000 milligrams more than the maximum recommended daily allotment.

Harrison says the soup’s high sodium content is what nutrition experts have come to expect from restaurant fare.

“I love Asian cuisine, especially the soups which are delicious, and would eat it more often if it weren’t so high in sodium,” she says.

As perspective, the ramen’s 3,388 milligrams of sodium is the equivalent to adding about 85 shakes of salt to your dish — which is just shy of 11/2 teaspoons of salt.

In this dish, the salt likely comes from a combination of its components: the broth, marinated pork, fermented sauces and some garnishes.

Harrison would like to see Kenzo tinker with its recipes to cut about 1,500 milligrams of sodium from its ramen. Any reduction, she said, would do its diners a favour.

For now, Harrison says health conscious ramen lovers would be wise to leave a lot of the broth in the bowl to curtail some of the salt.

“And chase your meal down with a pitcher of water so you don’t wake up in the middle of the night feeling parched.”

VERDICT: Yet another super tasty, but super salty soup.

Serving size: 753 grams

Calories: 640

Fat: 14 grams

Sodium: 3,388 milligrams

Carbohydrates: 76 grams

Protein: 50 grams

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